My sister and I wanted to get the three cousins picture taken with Santa this year when she came to town. We decided to venture to Northpark Mall (aka most crowded mall EVER) to experience Storytime with Santa, pictures with Santa and the trains. We succeeded with 2 out of the 3. Storytime with started at 10:30 so we decided to shop for a bit since we got there at 9:30 and no one was waiting on Santa. When we walked back to Santa's house at 10:00 there were oodles of kids and parents already sitting and waiting.....really it was a ton! So I sat with Eli and Phoebe to wait (cookies and iPhones made the waiting possible) while my mom and sister kept Lincoln in the back. Let's just say Storytime with Santa was not that great. Too many kids, too many parents who feel their kids do not have to follow etiquette rules (like sitting on their bottoms in the front and letting their kids "cut" from the back to the front, really the teacher in me was about to come out!), and Santa's story was not that entertaining. So after the first story we were outta there onto the trains. Meanwhile my mom heard that you needed to get a ticket to see Santa, she was number 206 at 10:00am! Apparently these North Dallas moms get up at 5:00am to get a number less than 100, who knew?! So on we went to the trains to wait for our number to be called to visit Santa. The trains were neat and the kiddos loved it (Lincoln just looked overwhelmed!) and yes it was crowded but it was manageable and much less stress than the story time. After the trains about 12:00 (Santa had been visiting for almost a hour by this time) we checked to see what ticket number they were at......14!!! Seriously 1 hour with only 14 kids, it did not look promising to us. So we decided to ditch Northpark Santa and head to good ole Vista Ridge (with a lunch stop first at La Madeline). We waited a mere 20 minutes for Santa to come back from lunch and we were out of there with a cute picture and the kids to Santa. Perfect in my book! So advice for next year to anyone who feels the need to meet the NP Santa, bring your sleeping bag and camp out the night before to get a good number or just go to Vista Ridge and be done with it!
Our Santa picture! Precious kids....and a great looking Santa!
PRECIOUS! That is crazy about the NP Santa.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Eli look so big in this picture? All 3 of them are precious...next year it will be 4! yay!
You might think about uptown next time - they give you a beeper so you can shop while you wait for santa - wonderful idea in my book!!!
ReplyDeletePam
I too am DONE with the Northpark santa. Yes, he looks amazingly real and they have such a neat backdrop....BUT, the wait is ridiculous! Last year, Madden was just a few months old and we managed to talk the guy into letting us in line since we didn't need to "talk" to Santa....we just needed to sit the babe in his lap and snap a quick picture. I think we waited 1 hour for that.
ReplyDeleteSo, this year, we skipped church a few weeks ago and got there at 10am....and I was #138. Are you kidding? Santa didn't even come out until 1pm. I just said "no thanks" and we left.
I still have yet to get Madden's picture with Santa this year....and I have less than 24 hours to do so.
Good thing my dad has a Santa suit....he may be dressing up for the photo op this year!
Merry Christmas to your family!!